treble

Whereas the 2024 final was a tense and a low scoring affair, Hull KR flipped that script on its head with this year’s war of attrition.

Gone was the caginess of last year. And nerves? What nerves? This was a side made for the occasion, that knew they were on the cusp of greatness and took their opportunity.

Yet it might not have been that way as they were off the pace in the opening stages, and were lucky not to fall behind when they failed to pick up French on the turnover prior to his score being chalked off.

Other than that if they seemed unnerved by the occasion, knowing they were 80 minutes from a history-making treble, they did not seem to show it.

Much had been said in the build-up to the game about Hull KR’s recent and distant past – whether that is relegation in the Million Pound Game in 2016 or finishing bottom of Super League in 2020.

Indeed, outside of some second-tier honours, you had to go back 40 years to the last time the Robins reigned supreme.

Bolstered by the retiring Waerea-Hargreaves – who almost missed the game through suspension prior to KR’s successful appeal this week – and Micky McIlorum, they soon carved open Wigan and never looked back.

Robins talisman Lewis has gone from strength to strength in recent seasons but, much like his team, this feels like the moment in his career where he truly came alive.

But this was a team performance. It was not won by individual moments of brilliance.

It was a display befitting a treble-winning side and masterminded by an elite coach in Willie Peters.

Hull KR have got better every season under Peters’ tutelage and, on this evidence, it makes you wonder if they could be even more formidable in 2026.

“He’s incredibly clear in his messaging of what he wants and how he wants it done.”

Rodgers joined Celtic in 2016 a few months after leaving Liverpool and won all six domestic competitions in his next two seasons.

A seventh, the League Cup, would follow in December 2018, but he would relinquish the opportunity of a third treble by leaving for Leicester two months later.

Celtic were eight points clear at the top of the Premiership at the time, with Neil Lennon completing the title win and adding the Scottish Cup, but now Rodgers has a second chance to surpass the legendary Jock Stein’s two trebles.

“It is no surprise to me that he has success wherever he goes because he provides the players with a platform to go and perform and that’s the mark of a great coach,” Schmeichel suggested.

“Football now is so detail orientated. You have to be so clear about every aspect you want. He is a very detail-orientated person and he likes things to be done a certain way.

“He demands certain standards wherever he goes and it’s up to players to rise up to those standards and to live by those standards and those values.”

Schmeichel said Rodgers was clear when he arrived at Leicester about what it meant to play for the club and that was heightened with Celtic as “he has the DNA of the club already within him” as a boyhood fan.

“He leaves you in no doubt what it means to be a Celtic player and the responsibility to bear that shirt,” the goalkeeper said.

“His methods are always evolving. He’s a very modern coach with traditional values and I think the best thing for a player – you are left in no doubt what is expected of you. There are no grey areas.

“He’s very clear about what he expects on the pitch and very clear what he expects of you off the pitch. That always creates an environment that players thrive in and that’s shown everywhere he’s been.”

Aberdeen, who finished fifth in the Premiership, have not beaten Celtic in 30 meetings since 2018 and November’s 6-0 thrashing in the League Cup final was just one of three heavy defeats by the Glasgow side for Jimmy Thelin’s side this season.

However, Schmeichel insists that it “would never enter our minds” that completing the treble is a foregone conclusion.

“We will be taking this very seriously, like any other game, with the utmost respect for the opposition and what they can do and their threats,” he added.

“If you take your foot off the peddle just a micro percent, any level, they’ll beat you – teams are that good now. There are no easy games any more.”